After hearing so many great things about ketogenic diet and thinking about starting it, I was quite disappointed today to come across the following article:
Surprised by article "Can ketogenic diet ... - Cure Parkinson's
Surprised by article "Can ketogenic diet lead to Alzheimer's disease?"
I was just planning to have a harder look at vegetarian ketogenic diets, as I am a vegetarian. I need to read more on this subject.
Of even more interest is the reading of the 18 comments that follow the article, don’t let all the hype scare you to death, eat clean, remove processed full of added chemical packaged foods you will not go far wrong.
There are major splits in contemporary medicine. Some experts
promote low fat diets with carbs for energy. Others conclude that
high fat, moderate protein diets are healthier. Both sides present
citations for studies indexed in Pubmed. I recommend the following.
Each provides oodles of citations to counterbalance the essay linked
in first post of this thread..
David Perlmutter, MD.
Brain Maker: The Power of Gut Microbes to Heal and Protect Your
Brain - for Life.
Nina Teicholz.
The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a
Healthy Diet.
William Davis, MD.
Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path
Back to Health.
Elaine Gottschall.
Breaking the Vicious Cycle: Intestinal Health Through Diet.
For info about economic factors, see:
Dan Morgan.
Merchants of Grain: The Power and Profits of the Five Giant
Companies at the Center of the World's Food Supply.
My husband got rid of Alzheimer's, and his brain function was fully restored by following the Ketogenic diet as advocated by neurologist David Perlmutter and by checking points advocated by Dr Dale Bredesen. I also went on the ketogenic diet (and am still on it) to make it easier for my husband to see me follow the same way of eating. My mother died of Alzheimer's so it makes sense for me to take precautions, too.
Betteridge law of the headline - Any article finishing with a question mark can generally be answered with "no".
The problem with any of these surveys is taking out the fat content vs the rest of the life style. The standard high fat consumer may also be filling up with takeaway food, potato chips and biscuits. You know all those things are bad.
The low fat addict may also be drinking less and exercising more.
Having the briefest of scans in the surveys it confirms that fish is beneficial as are monosaturates (e.g. olive oil).
So eat as much oily fish as you can. And the usual Mediterranean diet.
Still think coconut oil is beneficial too.
"There are major splits in contemporary medicine."
To me that is the problem. I was tending towards a ketogenic diet for myself after having had personal success controlling psoriasis by going keto for a short time, but the simple fact is the research that is coming out specific to ketogenic diets is inconclusive. What is conclusive is that a "healthy" diet is possible without going to extremes, and I think a healthy diet is fairly obvious. One simply avoids processed and fried foods and minimizes sugar and dairy and maximizes fresh produce. Beyond that I think we are all individuals and need to study and listen to our own bodies. For some people gluten will be a problem, for others perhaps sugar is the bugaboo, and still others may find a high fat low carb diet works well for them. In the end though, even if the headline overstates the case, the fact is a ketogenic diet is not a "slam dunk" in terms of the current research available, and that, I think, is the important takeaway from the article.
Makes sense because a true Ketogenic diet introduces neurotoxins into your system (diary and other saturated fats).
This is from one of the comments contained in the nutrition studies article you have posted and quite answers your concern. Remember blogs and such like may contain scholarly sources but are still opinions nonetheless. Do your own research- read the evidence based sources on scholar.google.com and please, please draw your own conclusions. Daniel RN with PD
ΠΑΝ ΜΕΤΡΟΝ ΑΡΙΣΤΟΝ (Hippocrates)! Everything in moderation. Our bodies need nutrients from all kinds of food.